The Club's Results

Thanks to Igor for subbing in, and making this event (and win) possible for us.

The rowing was generally messy, not helped by being told 'go' while we were still sitting the boat at back stops. However, the words 'this is good, we'll bump them before grassy' helped to settle some nerves, and we found something similar to a rhythm as we approached first post corner. Unfortunately, we weren't actually allowed to bump them, and had to drop the rate four to avoid this on plough reach.

Coming round ditton, we took a nice wide line, and called the come-by. Clare now found some power, and our progress slowed slightly as tiredness set in. However, Clare had refused to let us change day to give us our full crew, and so we wanted the overtake. This made it a bit more fun, but our time might have suffered from this, but not as much as theirs did from hearing 'more clear water'.

Not a bad row, but plenty more to be found here. (John Kiely)

Awesome race, ignoring the fact that I died and my rowing went to shit round Ditton.

We wound to 40 off the start which was a lot more relaxed than the 38 on the practice start because we were more in time and not using our backs in the first few strokes. We gained on them continously until Grassy, where we had made up 3 lengths. Then they pushed and held us off for a bit. With Ming and our definitely over-sized bank party yelling we were on station and had to move it now we tried to lift it out of Ditton but didn't get any closer. The wind to the finish gave us our final 1 1/2 lengths gain

In general, a bit unbalanced (my technique going to pots not helping). We kept the rate at 32 which was good. On the plus side only FaT1 and Downing 1 have managed to get a better time over the course during the week, not bad for a 2nd (actually 3rd) four. (S.C. Mertes)

Thanks to Sarah for subbing for this day.

This was a bit closer than we would have wanted, but both boats went much quicker than expected. We may also have been overconfident, and Christian refusal to tap down, and then dying, probably didn't help.

The start was splashy, but brought us up 3 lengths on them quickly. From here, they held us off, and a failure of a push in the gut didn't help. From here, I was told to take it up four, but wasn't really able to, and they edged away slightly.

As we came on to the reach the power came back up, and we nudged up slightly on them, and wound up for the final 200 to make sure of the result. Credit to Downing, they were much more difficult than we had expected, and they almost made us pay for it. (John)

Ok what is really worrying about the time is that both John and I agreed it didn't feel as painful compared to yesterday and we were 12 seconds faster. I Guess rowing together, in time means you last longer and go faster. And me not dying as much probably helped.

Good race overall with Ming yelling at us most of the time to get the work on together. I wouldn't say that's exactly what happened but I think we got a lot closer to it than yesterday.

The push in the Gut actually worked with a big change in boatspeed. Most of the time we weren't sure how we were doing with respect to Churchill when the bank party didn't mention anything. Emma just mentioned the odd "we're still moving on them", and that kept us calm for a while again. Looking back at the finish line I saw Churchill about 1 length away so all was good in the end. It's a shame Emma didn't get to yell "Churchill, we're coming by now!!" (S.C. Mertes)

We finally had everyone together, and the row down was much more relaxed as a result. The start was a good bit faster than the other days, and our settle was stronger than it had been. We gained ground steadily along first post reach, and managed to co-ordinate a push out of the corners, but they found previously unsuspected speed to hold us off, but we kept our technique and brought it up around ditton.

I started to wonder where they were, but support from the bank helped us keep everything together, and we had a partially successful attempt at a wind for the finish.

The time is slightly disappointing, as we'd thought we could beat the other four. However, with clean water, catching in time and timing the push for the finish better we could go a good bit quicker. We'll try to keep the crew together for winter head, and maybe for fairbairns too. (John Kiely)

Not all doom and gloom, just partial doom and gloom.

Although we rated on target and kept the pushes coming we never really got it together. Horrendous balance in the first few minutes of the race made it difficult to find the rhythm we were looking for. Still, we overtook four or five crews (one of which had crashed into a buoy, despite being a bowloaded four...) and were never overtaken ourselves. There were some nice patches when the backs came through together but overall it was a hard slog. As Bryn says above, i think we learned from the race and hopefully we can take what we gained back with us as we return to the comfort zone of on-Cam racing. (Emma)

The start was decent, and we got the rating up to 34SPM. We took 20 before we settled the rating and pressure to race pace (though the settle felt a bit like a continuation of the first 20 strokes). Coming around the corners was not bad, and we could see FaT A in front of us. The 10s on the straights helped pull the rhythm together, and the 10 at grassy was by far the best one. We could hear Phil yelling that we were 3 seconds up on the other 4+ around the Plough Reach.
Our rating slipped down to 32 a few times, but there was enough of a strong rhythm established that the boys were able to get it back up to 34 each time I called it up. We walked up on and through Clare's 4+ easily, coming off Ditton Corner, and had a good 20 at the halfway point. Most of the focus coming down the Long Reach was moving up on FaT A. Length on the recovery and swinging the backs into the bows seemed to be the most key calls, as this allowed us to have some really smooth stretches. The technique was a bit sloppy at times, but we were still moving well, and 34 felt really smooth.
The wind-up was a bit lacking, as it was the only thing we hadn't worked on. The last few strokes, the set was a bit off because we were directly in the wash of FaT A. By the time we crossed the finish line, we had eaten up most of the open water between us. (Cynthia)

I'm not sure if a four that never rowed together in a single training session or race really merits a crew list, but it felt right to put it up there anyway... (BJ)